MDRS Crew 36
Red Flyer - Phase I - March 6 - 12, 2005

During the active field season, the crew of the Mars Desert Research Station rotates every 2 weeks. These are the scientists and engineers who live and work on site within the MDRS. They explore all of the facets of human exploration in a simulated Mars environment. The MDRS will be active for a 7 month period.

Name	Speciality
Mike Turner	Mission Commander
Stacy Sklar	Executive Officer - Lead Geologist
Kari Cheek	Systems Engineer
Amber Church	Geologist & HSO
Randy Moore	ARV Specialist
Mark Hernquist	Systems Engineer

Mike Turner	Mike Turner is extremely passionate about space development. Since he was a child he's been fascinated by the awesomeness of the universe at large. It's always been his dream see the objects from telescope images up close. To do this however, it'll take some work. Thus, Mike plans to spend his life developing the technologies & ideas that will enable normal people to live and work in space. To achieve this he is seeking a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and has been involved in several space development efforts throughout the years. Currently he is the chapter coordinator of the Mars Society at University of Illinois and is working on both the Red-Flyer project, and the design of the Earth to Mars mission plan for the Mars Homestead project (Both of which in his opinion are great fun!). In the future Mike plans to continue a stream of innovative projects with the aim of making private space travel a commonplace. He believes that doing so will allow space to become a viable place to conduct commerce and make it possible for people to live & work in space. If this happens in his lifetime, he plans to build a grand spaceship & spend his retirement on a pleasure cruise throughout the solar system. Because "when space is a commonplace, we can all see the stars up close!"
Stacy Sklar	Stacy Sklar is currently attending Northern Arizona University studying Geology. Stacy has been an active member of the Mars Society since the second convention in Denver (1999). She was apart of the scouting group looking for Mars analog sites for MDRS in the American Southwest. Stacy scouted locations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah in 2000/2001. She also served as a crewmember of the shakedown crew during the Christmas break 2001, as a crewmember (rotation three) during a one-week rotation, spring break 2002, and as backroom geologist for Expedition One Feb/March 2003 and Expedition Alpha Dec 2004. During the 2004 MDRS field season Stacy has served as the RST Geologist for various crews including Crew 21, 25 and Crew 29 (NASA Mobile Agents). Stacy's non-science interest include Ancient Roman, Greek, and Chinese archeology. In her spare time she likes to hike, backpack, and spend time with her family and friends. Stacy is excited to be working with the first all female crew and to further study the extremophiles and concretions surrounding MDRS.
Kari Cheek	Kari Cheek is a 21 year old student who is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering. After receiving two associate degrees from Elgin Community College in May 2005, she will finish her degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in fall 2005. After graduating, she hopes to work as an engineer for an aerospace company. Working on the Mars Desert Research Station is a dream come true for Kari. She has been fascinated with space exploration for over half of her young life. Kari became involved with the Mars Society after reading The Case for Mars a few years ago. Since then, she has become an active member in the Chicago Chapter of the Mars Society. She was also a volunteer at the Seventh International Mars Society Convention in Chicago last summer. When she is not busy studying, which is hardly ever, Kari enjoys working on her two prized possessions: her car and her computer.
Amber Church	Amber Church completed a double honors degree in Earth and Ocean Science and Environmental Science from the University of Victoria in April 2004. Since then her time has been spilt between working for the Quaternary Research Group at the British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines and undertaking a research apprenticeship through the University of Washington on seismic activity and the Endeavour hydrothermal vent fields off the western coast of Canada. She is on the Board of Directors for the Mars Society of Canada and is helping to organize various initiatives for them including their proposed research on Devon Island as part of the International Polar Year. Amber has completed lots of geological fieldwork before across western Canada and the States in many different sub-fields of geology including quaternary geology, bedrock mapping, marine geology, geochemistry and geophysics. This mission will be her first time undertaking Mars analogue geology and this is also her first trip to Utah, so she is very excited. She plans to spend the first couple of weeks of May this year in Iceland and will then hopefully spend her summer completing fieldwork based out of her hometown of Whitehorse, in the Yukon. She plans to be traveling next fall with her first stop taking her to do some work in the Amazon Basin of Brazil with her undergraduate honors thesis supervisor. By 2006 she hopes to be attending grad school, in a as of yet to be determined field. Amber is an avid rock climber, skier, mountain biker and surfer. At any given moment she can usually found scheming her next big trip, be that a backpacking trip through Peru or a day hike on Vancouver Island. She also loves photography and art. She is looking forward to working with everyone at MDRS and to everything there that she will learn.
Randy Moore	Randy Moore is a student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign pursuing a double major in Aeronautical Engineering and Computer Science. He is the primary pilot of the ARV and the author of the imaging software. Both of these positions are a result of Randy's love and experience with radio controlled airplanes (the ARV platform) and open source software. Randy hopes to combine his passions with those of others to explore the utility of aerial reconnaissance as a tool used for habitation.
Mark Hernquist	Mark Hernquist is currently enrolled at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as an undergraduate in Mechanical Engineering with hopes of specializing in the structural and architectural aspects. After graduation, he would like to find a job where he would be able to design, as well as the work on the construction of houses or any other smaller structures. While he doesn’t have any specific experience with space exploration or any other related field of work, he has had opportunities to work in other fields of engineering. Last summer, he had the opportunity to draft the blue prints for the renovation of a pet store and was able to obtain the building permits with little direction or guidance. This ambitions for this year are to intern at a smaller company that specializes in the design and prototyping of disposable medical devices. While there, he will obtain experience in solid modeling and the manufacturing of FDA approved implants.